Good afternoon, normal humans and recovering VO folks! Guess what we get to talk about…?
I had an AMAZING time at the 4th Annual New York Voiceover Mixer this past weekend. This was easily the best one yet.
The festivities began with nine of us having dinner on Friday night at Trattoria del Arte aka “The Nose”.
That’s me and my buddy Kelley Buttrick!
That’s us “working the camera”. Yes, I’m a tiger.
Then we went to Ted’s Montana Grill to meet up with about 20 more VO friends. After that about a dozen of us went to the Hilton for drinks. My pal Trish Basanyi (who crashed at my place over the weekend) and I didn’t turn in until 4AM! The next morning we were awoken by, get this, the phone ringing and Jehovah’s Witnesses ringing my doorbell at the EXACT SAME TIME. How’s that for a wake-up call?
That’s me and Trish in the car on the way to NYC on Saturday afternoon. We went to Mustang Harry’s (not Mustang Sally’s, Liz!) for lunch with about 20 VO buddies, then we got changed (thanks again Fran and Natalie for letting us get ready in your hotel room!) and headed down to the Mixer at The Arena Event Space.
That’s me, Trish, and our pal Peter O’Connell. Doesn’t Trish look awesome?
After we got kicked out of there, a huge pile of us went to Rosie O’Grady’s Saloon. I was the luckiest guy in the room ’cause I had Marci Fine, Lauren Sowa, and Donnell Adler at my table!
So we closed THAT bar and some of went hard-core and hit Manitoba’s (the ULTIMATE dive bar) on the Lower East Side. A special thanks to Melissa Exelberth for taking us down there. Post the pictures, Trish!
Guess what? We closed that bar, too! Mel was nice enough to drop us off at Times Square so we could get to my car. So, there we are, just me and Trish at five in the morning, walking in Times Square, eating hot dogs. At one point she stops and says, “Man, I love New York”. “Me, too” I say, and we keep walking. A perfect ending to a perfect day!
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: Do the right thing. It will gratify some people and astonish the rest. Mark Twain
TIP OF THE WEEK: I spent most of the Mixer catching up with friends as opposed to networking but I squeezed in some of that, too. Based on what I observed there, we need to do a Networking 101 refresher, and fast. Ready…?
Dress to impress. You don’t need to wear a ball gown or a tux, but men, wear at least a sport coat or a long-sleeve button-down short, preferably both. Unless a specific look is part of your branding, you’re at a professional event so try to look professional.
Bring business cards. I don’t care how new you are to the industry, go to Vistaprint and order some.
Don’t talk about yourself! When asked how things are going, be brief and bounce it back. Also, don’t ask people who sends them out or how they get work. It’s tacky.
STUFF!: You guys (and you know who you are) made this an incredible, unforgettable weekend and I love you all. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE post some pics on this blog entry so everyone can enjoy them.
From Tom Dheere’s apartment, this is Tom Dheere, GKN News…